Currently, more than BAM 220 million (around EUR 110) originating from excise duties are just sitting on the account because Bosnia's two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, as well as the Brcko District, cannot reach an agreement on the division of those funds.

Bosnia's House of Representatives Speaker told this to N1, commenting on his party's initiative to amend the state Excise Duties Law.

The Serb Democratic Party (SDS) had submitted their proposal for changes to the Law on Excise Duties to the parliamentary procedure with the aim of abolishing the tax increase by BAM 0.18 (around EUR 0.09) per a litre of petrol.

So far, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Independent Bloc voiced their support for the SDS’ initiative.

“We believe the proposal will be placed on the agenda. The SDS proposed that the Law be amended in an urgent procedure. I must add that tomorrow (Wednesday) is the first session of this sort so we cannot say for sure when this item will be included in the agenda,” Bosic told N1.

“We warned that the Law would produce a number of negative effects for the citizens as well as a chain price increase.”

When asked why the funds are not being used, he said that the main reason is that the FBiH, RS and the Brcko District officials are unable to reach an agreement on how the funds should be divided.

“However, no one is talking about how the money will be spent. They are talking about how to divide the money, but not how it should be spent,” Bosic concluded.  

(EUR 1 = BAM 1.95583)